Schoharie Creek Report

I spent a couple of days in Dutchess County helping out my folks a bit and on the way back, decided to reward myself with a quick stop on the famed Schoharie Creek. About an hour before dark, I stopped in Prattsville and fished a little below where the Batavia Kill Creek enters the Schoharie. A little bit of hiking brought me to a nice long riffle that emptied into an huge slow moving pool, probably man-made to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Irene.

The water was definitely on the warm side but as it was getting close to dark, there was quite a bit of surface activity in the riffle. I tied on an Iso colored Comparadun and went to work in the fast water. In less than an hour I caught close to a dozen fish, mostly small-mouth bass with the occasional brown trout mixed in. I will definitely hit up this creek in the fall when the water temperatures come down a bit. If it worked for Art Flick there must be something to it, right?

As an aside, the Iso Comparadun is definitely my go to fly this summer. In a size 12, it floats high and is easily visible in fast water. It's been fantastic for prospecting in moving water and has caught brown trout, brook trout, small mouth bass, blue gills, perch, chubs, and golden shiners to name a few.

Charlotte Creek Report

I was in the neighborhood so I decided to check out a few spots on the Charlotte Creek between Davenport and Stamford. It was a cool and rainy afternoon but the creek wasn't in bad shape. Cool weather and frequent rain have kept the water temps down making the trout season last late this summer. 

As far as I've seen, the Charlotte isn't known for its insect hatches and most fly fishers I know stick to subsurface stuff there. I hear a sparse black wooly bugger or a copper john dead drifted are killer. No idea if that's true since I didn't listen. This evening I went with a comparadun ISO pattern that has been serving me well of late and did a bit of prospecting. I caught the beautiful brook trout pictured above in some fast water holding behind a rock with the iso as well as a small chub in the middle of a run below a riffle before the storms drove me off. 

I got a good soaking, but it was worth it. That little beauty was my first native brook trout!

Foam Popper

Hook: streamer or wide-gap stinger hook

Thread: black 70 denier

Popper Head: 5 craft foam discs, alternating black & silver

Legs: 2 strips of silver craft foam, rubber bands or crazy legs

Tail: black marabou

Collar: black saddle hackle

Foam n CDC Beetle

Hook: #12 Dry

Thread: Black 70 denier

Body: Dark dun CDC tied in by tip and wrapped forward

Wing: Craft foam disc

Thorax: "Peacock Black" Ice Dub

Foam Head Hoppers

Foam head made with two over-lapping foam discs. 

Hook: 6-10 streamer or 3x dry

Thread: rusty brown 8/0

Head: green craft foam

Body: olive hare's ear dubbed thick and buggy

Under-wing: elk hair

Legs: 4 pheasant tail fibers knotted to make the leg joint

Over-wing: turkey quill lacquered with Tough as Nails

Whip finish behind foam head

More traditional foam head created by tying the foam to the shank and folding it back on itself. This go around I left the butts of the pheasant tail exposed to mimic some forelegs. 

Sulphur Sparkle Dun

Hook: #16 dry

Thread: Orvis "Primrose" 8/0 (light yellow)

Tail: silver poly yarn

Body: thread wraps

Thorax: Hareline UV Light Yellow Trout Ice Dub

Wing: light deer hair tied comparadun style

Isonychia Comparadun

A classic low-riding representation of an Isonychia or Mahogany Dun.

Hook: #10-14 Dry
Thread: Rusty Brown
Tail: Dark Dun Z-lon
Body: Hareline Olive Brown Dubbin
Wing: Natural Deer Hair (the finer the better)

Can be tied with lighter deer or elk hair and combined with different colors to represent other hatches as well.